Better Be
by Clara Barton
Summary: Duo returns to his dorm after Thanksgiving Break


A/N: For Kangofu-CB, thank you for all of the beta reading that certain special thing and for all of the everything.

A/N2: Always thanks to Ro, for editing my things and making them amazing.

A/N3: Inspired by a photo on tumblr of a guy in a sweater and briefs. Well, a guy in a sweater and briefs who then removes the briefs.

Warnings: language, sex, angst

Pairings: 2x3/3x2

 _Better Be_

 _Never again_ , Duo promised himself as he dug into his pocket for his dorm room key. _Never again._

Four hours on the train had been hell. Absolute, unmitigated, _frozen_ hell.

Four days at home with his parents had been worse.

He wasn't doing it again.

This was it.

No more.

 _Who the fuck was he kidding?_

Of course he would go back - Winter Break was only a few weeks away, and the university had denied his petition to remain on campus. Apparently, starting work on his thesis project wasn't a _thing_.

The realization made Duo even more depressed, and when he finally found his room key, he gave a heavy sigh and slid it into the card reader.

As he opened the door, he was immediately hit with a wave of acoustic music.

 _Shit_.

He hadn't thought Trowa would be back yet. When they had last texted two days ago, Trowa had said he wasn't coming back until late Monday night. And Duo, desperate to escape his family, had taken the five a.m. train Sunday morning.

He had thought he would have the room to himself, had planned on throwing himself onto his bed and staring up at the ceiling and wallowing. Alone. He had-

Duo pushed the door farther open and caught sight of his roommate.

Trowa was on his own bed, propped up on his elbow and reading, wearing nothing but a bulky cream sweater and Pokemon briefs.

Duo stared.

And Trowa stared back at him.

"Door?" Trowa finally said, and the slight curve of his lips jarred Duo out of his trance.

"Right. Sorry."

Duo slammed the door shut and dropped his bags to the floor.

He couldn't help but look at Trowa again.

They had been roommates since Freshman year, and Duo had seen Trowa half-naked before - had seen Trowa naked before, actually - but not… None of those times had been like this.

"What the fuck are you wearing?" he finally had to ask.

Trowa's cheeks colored the slightest bit, and he looked down at himself. He self-consciously plucked at the sweater, which pulled it up high enough to expose a band of flesh above the waist of the briefs.

"Laundry."

Duo arched an eyebrow.

"Sure, okay, but… Are you hot or cold? I mean, obviously, you're _hot_ , but-"

Duo caught himself, and felt his cheeks burn with embarrassment as Trowa's smirk grew.

"You think I'm hot?"

They had danced around it, two months into the fall semester of their first year. They had been drunk off their asses and laying on the quad together, looking up at the stars and absolutely not doing their Astronomy homework. Trowa had said something - something clever, and Duo had laughed and rolled over and looked down at him, and they had been so close to kissing, close enough that their breaths mingled and Duo had actually closed his eyes. And then Trowa whispered one word. _No_. And then another. _Don't_.

Duo had scrambled away so quickly he scraped his hand on a rock. They hadn't spoken for months, after that, not until after Winter Break had ended and they came back, and Trowa had introduced Duo to the perfectly handsome, perfectly kind, perfectly funny Sophomore, Quatre Winner, who he had started sort of dating during finals week.

Ever since, they had been careful to keep their distance, physically. Emotionally - that ship had sailed long ago. They sat up late at night, getting drunk and talking through all of the shit with their families. With relationships. With the future. With the past.

Trowa was Duo's best friend, and he was the recurring star of so many of Duo's fantasies that it was almost laughable.

"Um, I mean, yeah. Of course you're hot."

Trowa's smirk, if possible, grew broader and more self-satisfied. He slipped a bookmark between the pages under his fingers and then closed the book.

"Of course," he agreed.

Duo rolled his eyes and gestured at the Pokemon briefs.

"Except for those. Pokemon? Really, Trowa?"

Trowa was still smirking as he reached down and shoved the briefs down his thighs and kicked them free. The sweater was large enough to cover his naked groin. Just.

"Better?" Trowa asked.

"Um."

"Or would you prefer this angle?" Trowa rolled over to show off his bare ass.

Duo could only stare, but then Trowa looked over his shoulder, still smirking, something like a dare glinting in his eyes.

His hands were cold, and Trowa shivered when Duo touched his calf.

Duo hesitated.

"Are you- Is this okay?" Because it was one thing for Trowa, who didn't give a flying fuck when his clothes were stolen from the shower last year and just walked back to their room completely naked, towel over his shoulder, whistling what Duo was positive was Bach, to tease Duo. Another thing for Duo to act on it.

"Yeah." Trowa's voice was lower than normal, a little rough. A lot sexy.

Duo ran his hand over Trowa's long leg, muscles flexing under his touch, until he reached Trowa's thigh, and then he hesitated, digging his fingers into the firm flesh as he eyed the crease of Trowa's ass.

What were they doing?

What was _he_ doing?

Trowa looked at Duo, chin propped on his shoulder, sweater hiding his mouth and hair hiding half his face. All Duo could really see was one brilliant green eye and the curve of his nose.

"This is… this would be breaking a Commandment," Duo had to say.

Trowa snorted a laugh and rolled over, propping himself up on one elbow in a smooth motion that momentarily distracted Duo.

Of course, the fact that his hand was still on Trowa's thigh, now the front, and tantalizingly close to the bulge of sweater over Trowa's crotch, was an even bigger distraction.

"It wouldn't be the first one we've broken," Trowa pointed out.

Duo rolled his eyes.

The _Commandments_ \- rules that the RA their Freshman year had posted all along the halls of their dorm - had been a ridiculously extensive list of things they weren't supposed to do if they wanted to get along with their roommate. Things like _Do not steal from your roommate. Do not spy on your roommate. Do not leave your shit on your roommate's half of the room. Do not have sex with your roommate. Do not have sex with your roommate's boyfriend or girlfriend. Do not look at your roommate's porn. Do not get involved in your roommate's personal life. Do not get drunk with your roommate. Do not get high with your roommate._

The list had been a running joke almost immediately. Trowa had found a copy somewhere, and he and Duo had managed to work their way through most of the Commandments by the end of Freshman year - going to absurd lengths when it came to breaking the commands of 'not stealing' or 'not spying'. Trowa had taken Duo's too-small, too-tight and too-short Captain America t-shirt and worn it to classes one day; Duo had found a pair of binoculars and set himself up with a bag of popcorn two feet away from Trowa and Quatre in the dorm lounge and 'spied' on them doing their homework.

But there were a few they hadn't broken - they hadn't had sex with each other's boyfriends. And they hadn't had sex with each other.

"No," Duo agreed. "It wouldn't."

He met Trowa's gaze as he inched his hand upwards, until he could finger the hem of the sweater.

Trowa swallowed, throat working, and his lips parted as Duo's thumb grazed over his inner thigh. He barely made a sound, just the softest gasp, but his legs parted farther, dragging the sweater up, and Duo felt his entire mouth go dry.

"Tro."

He didn't know what to do. Couldn't even _begin_ to think about what a bad idea this was, how much they were going to regret it when-

Trowa grabbed the front of Duo's shirt in his fist and pulled Duo down on top of him, meeting his lips in a kiss that was clumsy and a little painful as Trowa's nose bashed against Duo's cheek and-

And then Duo tilted his head. And Trowa opened his lips. And their tongues met. And Duo was scrambling onto Trowa's lap. And Trowa was fumbling with Duo's belt. And then they were tugging at sweaters, and the kiss had to end. They had to breathe and-

Trowa face and chest were flushed, his eyes wide and his lips parted, and Duo couldn't look away.

"Tro," he said again, and this time he didn't care about what had happened before and what would happen after.

The search for a condom put a momentary halt to things. The cold tile under Duo's feet and Trowa's muttered _fuck_ as he came up empty put a further damper on the mood. By the time Duo unearthed a condom from the back of his sock drawer and Trowa found lube, their erections had wilted and it felt a little silly, a lot stupid, to stand there naked, Trowa holding a nearly empty tube of KY in one hand and Duo holding a crinkled foil wrapper.

The rush of arousal, the flood of _holy fuck_ and _what the fuck_ and _fuck this_ had passed them by.

Duo offered Trowa a lopsided grin. He waited for Trowa to distance himself. Waited for Trowa to put his clothes back on. Waited for Trowa to say those words again. _No. Don't_.

"Come here."

Trowa held out his free hand, and Duo took a cautious step towards him. Trowa slid his hand along Duo's waist and pulled him close, until their bodies were flush.

Their gazes caught and held as Trowa lowered his head, as he brushed his lips over Duo's, the touch light and almost hesitant. Duo kissed him back, followed Trowa's lead and kept it light, held himself so still it was almost painful.

But then Trowa was smirking against his mouth, was teasing him, sucking Duo's lower lip into his own mouth, catching it between his teeth in a gentle nip, and Trowa's hand was squeezing his ass, and Trowa's cock was stirring against his own.

Duo pushed Trowa down onto his bed, straddled him again, and as they kissed and touched and rocked together, Duo let go of all of those fantasies. All of those fears.

Trowa arched under him, rolled them over and whispered Duo's name against his skin, kissing and licking and biting and mapping Duo's body, until Duo was crying out and twisting his hands in the sheets and feeling nothing but pleasure. Nothing but Trowa's touch. Nothing but everything.

Afterwards, spent and sticky and sweaty, they lay side by side on Trowa's bed.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Trowa asked him.

"The sex?" Duo felt dread creep into all of the wonderful emptiness he had been floating on.

Trowa snorted.

"No. Not the sex. The sex was perfect."

"Yeah," Duo hesitantly agreed. He felt relief. But if not the sex, then _what_ -

"Your parents?" Trowa prompted.

"Oh. Them."

Duo sighed, and he rolled over so that he was facing Trowa.

"I don't really want to talk about it. You?"

Trowa shrugged, still on his back, but he turned his head so he could meet Duo's gaze.

"Not really, no." Trowa hesitated. "I didn't think you were getting in until later."

"I didn't think _you_ were coming back until tomorrow night."

Trowa's lips twisted - slightly bitter, slightly vulnerable.

"I couldn't stand to be there any longer. I hoped…"

He trailed off, and Duo kissed him.

That went on for a while, long enough for them to end up stickier and sweatier, long enough for the darkness to recede, and long enough that all Duo wanted to do after was hold Trowa.

Long enough for that to be all either of them really needed.

-o-

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End file.
